Bank views following today's NZ.........>

NEW ZEALAND: Bank views following today's NZ labour market report:

- ANZ: The labour market showed continued strength. The labour market remains

tight. Wage inflation remains anaemic. Conditions are in place for a pick-up in

wage inflation but this is tentative and gradual to date. The labour market is

near "maximum sustainable employment" but today's data are a reminder that wage

and price pressures remain elusive. The OCR expected to remain on hold for some

time yet.

- Westpac: While the HLFS suggests a tightening labour market, there was also

evidence to the contrary. The Quarterly Employment Survey showed weak to no

growth in employment and hours paid. Meanwhile, the Labour Cost Index showed

just a 0.3% rise q/q, even lower than our bottom-of-the-market forecast.

Notably, the share of workers receiving no pay increase at all has been trending

higher in the last few years, and is now at its highest since '10. On balance,

the evidence suggests that the labour market has yet to enter tight territory.

That stands in contrast to the RBNZ's estimate that the non-inflationary

unemployment rate is above the current level.